The Norwegian government says it bears no responsibility for refugees and migrants rescued in the Mediterranean Sea on board boats flying the country’s national flag, after Italy called on Norway and Germany to take charge of almost 1,000 people stranded off its coast and awaiting permission to dock.
Italy’s new right-wing government has remained silent to repeated requests by rescue groups to provide safe harbour, effectively blocking at sea three charity vessels – the Norwegian flag-bearing Ocean Viking and Geo Barents, and the German-flagged Humanity 1 – for more than a week.
